4 candidates running for 3 seats on Bangor City Council

Four people are vying for three positions on the Bangor City Council.

Susan Hawes is running for another three-year term on the council while newcomers Wayne Mallar, Michael Beck and Joschka Winterling are looking to serve on the council for the first time.

Absentee ballots are available up until the third business day prior to the election, according to Bangor’s website.

Voters can request absentee ballots online, by calling or visiting the city clerk’s office, or by visiting the Cross Insurance Center Oct. 28 through Oct. 31 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the city’s website. Further details on how residents can vote early, request an absentee ballot and what will be on the ballot are available on the city’s website.

The candidates are listed in the order they appear on the ballot.

Wayne Mallar

Wayne Mallar is running for a seat on the Bangor City Council for the first time.

Mallar, who has lived in Bangor for more than 30 years, is retired but previously worked for public accounting firms and retail.

While this is Mallar’s first time running for Bangor City Council, he ran unsuccessfully for Bangor School Committee roughly 20 years ago. He has, however, served on the Bangor Planning Board and Historic Preservation Commission, he said.

Mallar was driven to run after watching older Bangor residents grow frustrated with rising taxes, open drug use, crime becoming more prevalent and the city’s growing homeless population.

“I think I could be of help, being an elderly person,” Mallar said. “Sometimes seniors are overlooked when it comes to solving problems.”

If elected, Mallar said he would encourage the council to explore solutions other cities of Bangor’s size have found. For example, he said has heard of communities in southern Maine reducing drug use and syringe waste by ceasing to distribute clean syringes to people who inject drugs.

Syringe service providers exist across the state to supply sterile needles to people who inject drugs. The goal is to prevent people from reusing and sharing syringes, which can spread infections, blood borne diseases and cause painful wounds.

Additionally, Mallar said he would like the city council to begin allowing public comment during the body’s committee meetings when most of the discussion on new ideas or initiatives takes place. Currently, there’s no opportunity for residents to ask questions or offer comments during the meetings unless the committee chairperson allows it.

“Someone out there may have a great idea, but they’ll never be considered if they’re not allowed to speak,” Mallar said. “I think openness and transparency during committee meetings when most of the discussion takes place is what we need.”

Furthermore, Mallar said he’d encourage the council to respond to public comments during formal city council meetings, if elected.

The council’s current practice is not to respond to residents’ thoughts or comments during the meeting, but a councilor or city staff usually assure residents they will follow up with them after the meeting.

“That’s not the way the government should run,” Mallar said. “When a citizen asks a question that concerns them, they deserve an answer.”

Susan Hawes

Hawes was first elected to the city council in 2005. She has held public office in some capacity since, having also served two terms, totalling six years, on the Bangor School Committee before returning to the city council. If reelected, she’ll begin her 14th year on council.

Hawes was born in Bangor and moved back to the city in 1987. She now works as a patient service representative for a local hospital.

Though she has sat on the council for more than a decade, Hawes said she still enjoys the work and feels it’s important despite the challenges Bangor is facing. She wants to finish some projects the council is working on and believes she offers a historical perspective that’s valuable when making decisions.

During her time on city council, Hawes said she’s proudest of the council’s involvement in the creation of the Cross Insurance Center and new police and fire stations. She’s also pleased with how the city’s downtown improved during her time.

In the coming years, Hawes said she’d like to see the city continue to work with business owners and housing managers to make Bangor a welcoming place for new developments.

If reelected, Hawes said she will work with other councilors to chip away at issues that have plagued Bangor for years, such as homelessness, substance use disorder and untreated mental health disorders.

“It’s a three-pronged problem and I think we need to go back and assess where we’ve been,” Hawes said. “We’ve spent a lot of money and yet we can’t seem to get our arms around how successful it has been.”

Improving these things could involve city leaders making “decisions that aren’t going to be popular,” like enforcing city laws, adding a school resource officer to Bangor High School or pushing for more mental health services to be established.

Regardless of what the city decides to do, Hawes said councilors need to make choices faster, as she believes there has been some “dragging of feet” in recent years.

Additionally, Hawes said councilors and city staff should be more transparent and communicative about what projects they’re working on so residents are informed and feel they can ask questions.

Lastly, Hawes said councilors need to keep an eye on the city’s aging underground sewer and water infrastructure that needs constant maintenance or replacements.

Michael Beck

Newcomer Michael Beck is running for the Bangor City Council after making an unsuccessful run for a seat last November as one of eight candidates competing for three positions.

Beck said he decided to run again because he still believes councilors are struggling to make quick decisions on things that could help Bangor address some of its most pressing issues, including housing.

Furthermore, Beck said he was buoyed by the support he gathered in his last campaign. He remained an involved citizen after the election, and still believes his ideas could benefit Bangor.

“I’m raising my family here and we try to leave the places where we live better than how we found them,” Beck said. “It’s important to me to make Bangor a better place for my kids and families across the city.”

In the nearly 10 years Beck has lived in Bangor, he has watched the city conduct numerous studies on various issues, but never consider or adopt the recommendations the studies produced, Beck said.

If elected, Beck said he’d ask councilors to consider one recommendation from a previous study in every meeting.

“If we’re calling it a housing crisis, let’s treat it like a crisis, get some steps implemented and get some housing built,” said Beck, who owns a website design company. “We have to move forward, because these are good suggestions made by experts.”

Adding more housing in the area, especially for low-income families, would also boost economic development in the city, Beck said. This is because people who work local shops, restaurants and other businesses could afford to live where they work.

In addition to housing, Beck said he’d prioritize expanding and improving public transportation if elected. For example, Beck said he hasn’t heard the council discuss why the regional bus service, the Community Connector, ended its Saturday service since the announcement was made last month.

Beck said councilors should be brainstorming ways to aid the bus service so it can restore Saturday service for the people who rely on it to get to work and run errands.